Humanity's Last Hope

Chapter 10: Missing Soldiers

"Everyone who still has the guts to fight, now you can do it!" said Hikari while looking at the horde of approaching corrupted.

"If only I had my scythe..." said Dusk, but quickly gets interrupted by Alex that just got behind him, holding his scythe.

"What soldier goes to the battlefield without his weapon...?" asked Alex

"Thanks!" said Dusk, and then went to Hikari's side.

"You thought about everything, didn't you?" asked Dusk

"Of course I did!"

"Now... Are you ready?" asked Hikari

"Just try not to get in my way!" said Dusk

 Then, Dusk, Hikari, Alex and also some other soldiers charged into battle...

--- After a long battle, the area around the wall was finally secured. There are not any more corrupted in that area at the moment. Every fighter got extremely tired after this but is enjoying the temporary victory. Through the crowd of soldiers, Hikari goes to the principal.

"How is the situation in other areas by now?" asks Hikari

"Almost all of our soldiers are completely exhausted..." replies the principal

"But we are not! Or at least I am not!" shouts Hikari while staring at his friends.

"Hmm..." the principal starts thinking about Hikari masked proposal.

"Dusk can go to the Eastside, while I can go to the Westside! He can even take Alex and Favio with him if he wants!" shouted Hikari

"Fine... I accept that Dusk and the others go to the East, but what about you? I can not let any of my soldiers go alone... Even if it's a soldier as skilled as you are... And if you think about it, Dusk would be a better option to be sent alone because of his powers!" as the principal was talking, he got interrupted by Mizuki that ran off towards them while screaming.

"I will go with him!" shouted Mizuki while approaching the principal and the soldiers.

"It's still hard for me to approve. But we might not have any other choices... Shimada, you go with Hikari..." says the principal.

"I am fine with this..." says Hikari

"Okay! You can go now... I will wait for you all to come back. If anyone dies, Hikari is expelled!" says the principal while laughing.

 And so, the two squads went in opposite directions. Both zones are forest areas... Dusk's squad was talking while running through the forest... Fabio and Alex started whispering...

"Who do you think is stronger? Him or Hikari?" asked Fabio while whispering.

"I don't know... I think they are on the same power level. Dusk's magic is obviously an advantage, but that guy Hikari is ridiculously strong..." replied Alex

"Why are you two so curious about that... It doesn't matter who is stronger right now. If you want to know, I will have a match with him after all this is done. But that only if you two do your best here!" said Dusk after overhearing their meaningless chatter.

"I just wanted to know, that's all! But I think you know who is stronger... It's impossible that the two of you didn't have a serious fight!" said Fabio

"I heard something about a fight between him and Hikari but I wasn't that interested at the time, so I just left..." said Alex

"I heard about that too, but it might as well be fake news..." said Fabio

"The match ended in a draw..." said Dusk

"So the stories were true?!" said Fabio

"Told you they were on the same level..." said Alex while staring at Fabio

"Now shut up, I hear something..." said Dusk

 Then behind some bushes, a strange noise started to be heard... Dusk cut the bushes with his scythe and revealed two weakened corrupted. He quickly cast a spell, freezing them both...

"What are you doing here> Tell me the truth!" asked Dusk, with a pretty angry tone.

"We got lost doing the retreat order!" said one of the corrupted while trembling in fear.

"Retreat order...?" asked Fabio

"Why would I believe you?" said Dusk

"You are going to kill us anyway... At least we will die after helping someone," said the other corrupted.

 Then, Dusk took a glance straight into the corrupted's eyes...

"Tsk..." and then, he unfroze them.

"Run out of here... You didn't see us, we didn't see you," said Dusk with a calm tone.

 And so, the two corrupted listened to Dusk's advice and ran away, scared to the bones...

"We will just let them escape like that?" asks Fabio

"Yes, now let's go back to the wall... Tell something about this to the principal and I will drink all your vodka..." said Dusk

"This seems more of a challenge than a threat..." said Fabio while laughing.

 And so, they went back to the wall...

After Dusk's squad was sure that the east side is safe, they went back to the wall... The principal was still there, waiting for them to arrive...

"The east area is safe sir!" said Dusk while saluting.

"Good, you can go back to the campus. Also, classes are suspended today because of this incident," says the principal.

"You are not coming with us?" asked Dusk while thinking about something.

 And then, remembering, he shouted:

"Hey... Don't tell me those two are not back yet!" said Dusk, angry.

 After a moment of silence, the principal said:

"No, and they are not answering on the communication devices..." 

 Fabio and Alex were also looking kind of worried... Hikari and Mizuki didn't come back for three hours already...

"Shouldn't we got after them?" asked Alex

"We already have two missing soldiers... That wouldn't be pretty smart. I will wait here a little longer..." said the principal.

 At the same time, on the west side of the forest, Mizuki and Hikari are still walking...

"I think they are really worried already..." said Mizuki

"Maybe..." said Hikari

"I bet the principal is still waiting for us..." said Mizuki

"Sure..." said Hikari, looking uninterested in what Mizuki had to say.

 Mizuki noticed and started raising the tone...

"You should at least be worried! You are the one who said to turn off the communication devices! What if they called for us?!" said Mizuki really angry.

"And what? Make more noise than we already do?" said Hikari with a calm tone.

"Now shut up... I hear something..." he added.

 The noises came from outside the forest. Mizuki and Hikari hide in some of the bushes and saw a very big group of corrupted, aligned, listening to another one that seemed to be their leader...

"I knew it... They didn't retreat, but group up..." said Hikari

"There are some many of them... Shall we go back to the wall and report this?"

"No, there is too many of them. Even if we go back and report, we don't have enough military power stationed at school to face it..." said Hikari and then continued saying: "Plus, if we run now, they might observe us and throw ranged attack towards us or even catch us..."

 Then, he looked at the corrupted in front of the others that looked a bit different, probably being their leader... But he also observed someone different right next to him, on his right side... Someone very skinny...

"I think that's their commander... Maybe if I kill him, they will retreat..." said Hikari

"Isn't that kind of risky?" asked Mizuki, really worried.

 Hikari drew one of his guns out, while Mizuki was already trembling in fear next to him.

"Do you think engaging them right now is the best idea?" asked Mizuki

"Well, we don't have many other choices..." said Hikari

 Then Hikari looked at Mizuki and saw her worried expression...

 She might've been scared because there were too many enemies... Or she might've been afraid to kill...

"After I shoot the commander... You run towards the wall... This way, we will have at least one survivor..." said Hikari

"What? But I can't let you alone like this!" said Mizuki really sad.

 Then Hikari turns around, and smiling he tells Mizuki:

"I am not alone. Even if you guys are not on the battlefield, you are still with me... Like the others, even if you are not here, I know you are thinking about me... Now go!" 

 Mizuki's expression changed to a smile...

"Maybe he loves me? Or did he just say that to cheer me up?" thinks Mizuki while preparing herself to run,

 Then Hikari takes his aim, and with one quick shot, he ends the life of the skinny man that was right next to the leader... At this signal, Mizuki ran away into the forest... To intercept them from noticing her, Hikari shot again, this time aiming for the corrupted leader... But he didn't manage to kill him. He had a pretty strong shield in front of him, blocking the light bullet.

 Mizuki didn't look back while running away, and Hikari, realizing that he can't run away anymore, stepped up in front of the army of corrupted, with his two lightsabers out, and faced the leader.

"Hey, you have quite the shield over there..." said Hikari

"I am really proud of it... What about you, mister sneaky? You really got a good hit on our benefactor over there..."

"Benefactor... I thought he was the leader..." muttered Hikari

"Well, let's dance now..." added Hikari, loud enough so that the corrupted could hear his "war shout".

 And so, he started to mercilessly kill all of the corrupted that were around him in that area... Even after being worn off and tiring himself, he continued to fight.

 He was ready to deliver another strong blow... But then, he realized...

"It was blocked?!" he thought. He realized that the one he was attacking now, was none other than the leader himself, who had incredible defensive capabilities.

 After this unsuccessful strike, someone managed to grab Hikari from behind, immobilizing him. It was none other than the skinny man he managed to shot at the beginning of the fight. His wound... The clear shot that Hikari managed to deliver this his head... Was completely healed...

"Oi oi oi, Hikari boy? Isn't it bad manners to shoot a teacher in the head?" asked the one that apparently was... None other than mister Kirizaki, their Chemistry teacher. 

"Mister teacher?! What is happening!?" shouted Hikari

"As I said... That guy is our benefactor! He was nice enough to tell us where the security was not good enough and prepare the attack plan for us!" said the corrupted leader.

"Tch... You traitor..." said Hikari

"Now, you had us really good until now, human kid... I am sorry that... This is your end..."